Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Second Edition
particular purpose we have in mind. Sometimes this is a
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- A basic methodology for written work
particular purpose we have in mind. Sometimes this is a matter of layout, as in writing a business letter, or of organisation, as in minutes of a meeting, but sometimes it is a much more subtle process of recognising the level of formality of certain combinations of utterance, or of appreciating what would sound bizarre or inappropriate— for any reason whatsoever—to a native speaker. Clearly it is not possible to teach explicitly everything a writer needs to know about English, but fortunately for teachers the learning of language takes place to a great extent unconsciously. A successful writing course must select the conventions and styles which are most likely to be useful to the students, but a great deal of the sensitivity which the students need in the use of language will develop unconsciously from spin-off from their reading and talking in the rest of the English course, so writing cannot be seen as something completely separated from the other activities. If we define the main aims of the writing course as developing appropriate ranges of style coherently and easily used, teachers may well feel that the traditional concerns of spelling and basic grammatical errors are being neglected. In fact, while these are of some significance, and should be corrected by students as they learn to write good English, correction of these alone will not ensure that satisfactory English writing results. We would expect a good writing course to help students to correct their mistakes, but natural writing does not result primarily from exercises in avoiding mistakes, so we need to fit help with correction into a framework of more positive development of writing skills. Writing 121 A basic methodology for written work In writing, as in other aspects of language teaching, the questions for the teacher to ask himself are: Is the task appropriate for the needs of the students? Is the task within the reach of the students? Is it only just within their reach, so that they will be really challenged as they try to complete it? And will they find it enjoyable? In this section ways of dealing with the answers to the second and third questions will be explored. If the teacher is sympathetic and enthusiastic, and the first three questions can be answered with ‘Yes’, the last should follow. In dealing with written work, there are a number of ways in which the teacher can bring the task to the level of his class. Basically, this means making the exact solutions to the writing problem more and more explicit the lower down the educational system we go. The teacher can grade the task in the following ways: 1 He can limit the length of the written material to be produced. 2 He can increase the amount of class preparation for the task. 3 He can provide guidance on the final form of the written work, for example with picture prompts, or word prompts, or memory prompts as a result of the oral preparation. 4 He can encourage students to collaborate in the actual process of writing. 5 He can allow cross-checking between the draft stage and the writing of the final product. 6 He can limit the complexity of the writing task itself. 7 He can demand that the task be completed either slowly or quickly. Any combination of these methods can be used to bring the task to the level of the class. These strategies provide the teacher with ways of organising his work in the class, but what should be the basis for the development? It is in fact possible to construct a very detailed specification of stages in composition work, which advances from what is really only a copying exercise to become gradually freer and freer until advanced writing of a Writing 122 situationalised or free kind has been developed. To illustrate this principle, consider the gradual advance in the following three stages: Download 0.82 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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